John Bonnell (Board Member/Elder) started attending CMC in the summer of 2014. He has served on the external ministry team and taught in the children’s ministry. John currently co-leads the youth ministry with his wife, Karen, preaches occasionally, serves as Board Chair / Elder, and supports life group leaders.
John works at Michigan State University on international development programs with African university partners. He has served as a pastor in Ohio, and as a teacher at a Christian university in Kenya
John has been serving as a Board Member/Elder since the spring of 2020.
John and Karen live in East Lansing and have three youth adult children.
Jim Eddy (Board Member and Treasurer) started attending CMC in the summer of 2014, serving and leading the Finance Team and Setup Team.
Jim is a Certified Public Accountant retired from working at United Way in Lansing. He was involved in Campus Crusade for Christ while attending MSU.
Jim has been serving as a Board Member since the spring of 2020.
Jim and his wife, Jean, reside in Haslett and have two adult children, a daughter-in-law and grandson.
Amara Ezeamama-Onye (Board Member and Secretary) grew up in Port Harcourt metropolitan city in River State, Nigeria. Born in Anambra state, her father passed away when she was two years old leaving her mother to raise her and her seven siblings. Faith in a just God and trusting his providence constituted her earliest memory of her mother – Mrs. Sarah Ezeamama. To access better educational opportunities, she moved to Port-Harcourt at eight years old to live with wealthier relatives. Mostly out of duty, she attended church with the family but there was not a personal relationship with Christ.
At 12 years old, she was introduced to the concept of being “born again” by a female household staff caring for her relative’s children. This individual spoke about her faith in a brand-new way – it was personal, it was transformative and she talked about it constantly with joy and excitement. Amara was drawn to her many stories about her church experience and eventually began to study the Bible alongside her. She took every opportunity to visit her local church until she stopped working for the family.
Thereafter, she explored similar churches on her own until she left home for college. At college, she joined the Amazing Grace Student Fellowship at Obafemi Awolowo University and responded to the alter call. She began to grow in her personal faith and relationship with Christ but moved to the US soon after. Her faith journey continued as part of local churches wherever she lived: Los Angeles, California, Providence, Rhode Island and Athens, Georgia.
She and her husband, Bright were members of the same church in Providence, Rhode Island from 2001 to 2012. She moved to Michigan in 2016 and attended Crossway Multinational Church (CMC) for the first time in the summer of 2018 and has continued at CMC ever since. Across churches, she has served in the children’s ministry, intercessory prayer and hospitality ministries.
The bold vision of CMC – to be a church for, of and by peoples of many nations, in a highly polarized time left a deeply positive impression on her. Amara has also been both inspired and challenged by this vision which represents an important solution in a highly divided era. Her earnest hope is that many more people will experience what God is doing at CMC and choose to join in God’s ongoing work of building a church that mirrors His kingdom. At CMC, she is active in the children’s ministry, the prayer team, and the Crossway Board.
Pedro Nariyoshi (Board Member) grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, in a Christian home that laid the foundation for his faith, but found his “heart strangely warmed” in his freshman year after joining his university’s IFES fellowship where he started developing a more personal relationship with Christ. He met Esther during an exchange program at University of Illinois and got married in 2013. After returning from his exchange program, Pedro joined the Christian leadership at his college, where he met and befriended many great believers to share the Gospel and disciple young believers. During this time, he contributed to the formation of a city-wide group for Bible study leaders, helping form more groups in other universities and colleges.
Pedro came to East Lansing in 2012 to pursue a doctoral degree. Esther joined him in 2013 when they got married. After graduating in 2021, he started working for MSU. Pedro, Esther and kids joined Crossway (virtually) in 2021 looking for a healthy church to call home and have fallen in love with the church community and vision. Esther and Pedro have been slowly becoming involved in different roles at Crossway and are excited for what God holds for the future of Crossway.
Daniel Foster (Board Member/Elder) grew up in a Christian family and lived most of his growing-up years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, at an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship retreat center called Cedar Campus. He trusted Christ at a young age and was baptized in Lake Huron at the camp. God used the people and experiences of camp ministry–along with short periods of time living in Mexico, Greece, and Brazil–to shape Daniel’s love for the global church.
The Fosters joined Crossway Multinational Church in 2021 and completed formal membership in 2023. They have appreciated the challenge and joy of belonging to a richly diverse church community where everyone takes turns feeling comfortable and divinely uncomfortable.
Some highlights:
- Being part of a small group where people from many cultural contexts and backgrounds read the Bible, pray, and care for one another.
- Deep partnership and support from Crossway for the International Houseparty event the Fosters organize.
- A warmly hospitable and spiritually encouraging community for their kids at Cairn (youth group).
In his day job, Daniel serves as a director of strategy and monetization for a global software company headquartered in East Lansing. In his free time, he loves playing board games and adventure sailing in summer and winter.